Bet was a slave who was blamed for setting a fire that destroyed a core part of the city of Albany in
1793.

In November 1793, Bet belonged to the wife of Philip S. Van Rensselaer - who had a residence on upper State Street. At that time, she was sixteen or seventeen years old. It was reported that she was born in Peekskill, raised among the Van Cortlandt family, and was brought to Albany after Anne Van Cortlandt married Van Rensselaer in 1787. She was described as a "handsome wench" and a "great favorite of Mrs. Van Rensselaer."

She conspired with Pomp and Dean (Dinah) to set fire to the stables of Leonard Gansevoort which were located in the rear of Gansevoort's State Street home. The fire spread - burning over several blocks before it was extinguished. Bet was jailed and soon confessed her guilt.

Along with Pomp and Dean, she was sentenced to death by hanging. The girls were executed on March 14, 1794. Pomp went to the gallows the next month.

Notes: Transcribed by TB in 1995 from document in New York State Library, Manuscripts and Special Collections.

Transcrition notes: * = not part of original text; __ = unreadable words The word male was crossed out in the title and Female was written above. The document had only dashes and no other punctuation. Most dashes have been replaced with a new paragraph so the document could be better understood. Periods and commas were inserted only where text was confusing. Although many words are grammatically incorrect, they were unchanged to preserve eighteenth century language and writing styles. Three fold, 8-by-14-inch.